


another episode

by isurani



Category: Kamen Rider Saber
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, all the other riders show up and calibur is mentioned, another patented isu all-lowercase fic, near the end anyway, once more its kentouma if you squint, takes place in a nebulous post-13
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:42:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28260342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isurani/pseuds/isurani
Summary: kento returns. it's supposed to be that simple.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	another episode

it feels like a moment out of touma’s manuscript, to see kento standing there.

it’s so many little things, like how the morning sun is peeking through the trees, reflecting off the dew on the grass, leaving a shimmer prevalent throughout the whole field. like how kento’s back is still turned to them until touma sees him, and the way he turns to meet touma face to face, a smile spread across his face. 

it’s the way it’s a real, genuine smile, not the way that his smiles had been before. not the perfect, too-thin smile that only seemed strained once you knew what you were looking for, but was still just plastic enough that touma knew to stop asking questions and let kento bottle up yet something more.

but this kento smiles at him, and raises his hand to wave, and it’s blinding, so blinding.

it doesn’t feel real. even if it almost makes sense in a way now that they’ve defeated calibur once more, and it felt so _final_ , it doesn’t feel real. it shouldn’t feel real, actually, so that’s good, that’s touma’s brain telling him that he can’t believe in it. he turns to mei, as if grasping for someone to tell him that kento’s not there, that he’s just imagining it.

mei’s stopped too, her freshly-bought bag of sweets on the ground - ah, poor rintaro, he’s never gonna get a fresh eclair - and her hands are covering her mouth in shock.

before touma can say anything at all, mei’s running towards him, the sun illuminating her like a flash as she practically tackles kento into a hug so forceful that he falls to the ground less than gracefully. 

he’s laughing. touma can hear him laughing.

it’s been too long since he heard that. he was starting to forget what it sounded like.

“we thought you were -“ and mei chokes on the words, the promise of tears in her voice something that feels unnatural. 

“i told you before, didn’t I? you all saved me,” comes kento’s response, the echo of words touma never expected to hear again, and that’s what finally shocks touma enough to feel himself move. 

he _knows_ he’s moving towards kento, he knows that from the sound of his shoes crunching the grass, but it’s like someone else is piloting his body. the morning sun is vibrant, but all he can see is that night, all of them right there, desperately trying to hold on to kento’s hand as it slipped out of reach.

it’s real, because mei is loud and kento’s moved from laughing to protesting at this point, but it doesn’t feel like it. there’s still that dreamlike quality to it, like a moment in a story that seems too perfect before you notice that there are still pages and pages of the story left. 

touma doesn’t want to hold kento’s hand and find that it’s cold.

kento sits up, finally pushing mei off him, and turns to meet touma’s eyes. touma can’t do anything except just stand there. 

his brain should have the thoughts that he can’t say, running at a million words per second, but for once, he can’t find the words inside or out.

“kento,” touma says numbly, enough that the name feels silly to say. like he’s affirming that it really is kento there.

“touma,” kento replies back. “i’m back.”

that’s all he needs to say. it’s all touma wants to hear.

he’s on the grass as well, faster than he can realize it, hands wrapped around kento’s own.

kento smiles, and laughs, and he’s warm. he’s warm.

“the three of us will always be together,” touma murmurs, and with kento so blinding in his hands, for the first time, he feels like it’s the truth.

* * *

kento reintroduces himself so simply once they’re back at the base. his hand’s still linked with touma’s, even if touma is a little embarrassed at this point for being so clingy (does it count as being clingy if he was _dead_?), so he waves with his other.

“i’m home,” he says, and the words mean nothing and everything at the same time.

daishinji’s been looking at them since the door opened. ogami seems to just have noticed, staring kento up and down. ren peers over the railing of the staircase, and makes some sort of noise akin to a squeal or a scream as he rushes over. 

rintaro notices last, but he’s already saying something in return, something inaudible that touma can barely make out from his lips.

“welcome back.”

it’s as if rintaro realizes how impossible the words are as he’s saying them. it’s all touma can do to just meet his eyes and nod, to reassure that yeah, it’s real. it’s real.

touma squeezes kento’s hand. it’s still warm.

ren’s shaking kento so hard that his hand slides out of touma’s own before he can do anything in return, but it’s fine. touma laughs, but ren’s holding kento in a crushing hug, and his own laughter and smiles have their own undercurrent cutting through.

ren’s the first one to break, really, as he chokes out a sob, as the crushing hug becomes his hands balling up on kento’s coat.

“don’t do that again -” he catches, out of breath, and kento seems shocked still. a hand slowly moves before it’s on ren’s head, pushing his hair back behind his ear in a way touma has caught kento doing to himself when he’s alone.

ren doesn’t say anything more after that - and touma’s grateful, honestly, because hearing him cry reminds him again of that one night where his wail was the only thing audible aside from touma’s own heartbeat.

kento’s finally let free when ogami approaches, with ren backing off as ogami claps him on the shoulder. he doesn’t say much, either, just some words about taking better care of himself. “cheating death is difficult,” he barks, “so don’t go doing it again!” 

daishinji hands him ikazuchi and turns away.

“i hated seeing you like that,” is his comment, quiet. “it’s good you’re okay.”

kento nods, staring down at ikazuchi. he doesn’t get much of a moment, though, before ren attacks him in another hug, suddenly talking a mile a minute about what’s been going on and how it would have been so much easier with kento around and he has got to see everyone’s new books and upgrades they’re so _cool_ , and -

touma looks up to the balcony. 

rintaro’s staring, even as he walks down the staircase. ren, for once, seems to take the hint, and moves to the side as rintaro steps right in front of kento.

“you came back,” rintaro says, like it was somehow an option.

kento nods.

“we thought you were gone.” it’s said so plainly. enough that if touma didn’t know where to look, he wouldn’t see the vulnerability in rintaro’s eyes.

“i told you that you all had saved me,” kento replies. “you must have done it again.”

rintaro looks almost solemn when he nods. there’s a tension that touma can’t place, can’t hope to navigate.

“plus, someone called me family.”

kento extends a hand. it feels almost too formal - like an apology of sorts. for being dead? but either way, rintaro takes it.

“we’re family,” rintaro echoes, but he’s smiling.

* * *

the days pass almost too peacefully. neither kurayami or jaou dragon have shown up anywhere - well, they can’t _find_ them anywhere - and there’s been no wonder world abductions. ever since the last big fight that seemed to get rid of calibur for good, it’s been so quiet it’s almost eerie.

eventually, they’ll have to deal with the thought of daichi kamijo, and if he’s really dead. touma doesn’t feel too great about the idea of having killed someone, no matter what ends they were fighting for. still, those are thoughts for later.

for now, it’s alright to not worry about anything. it’s alright to take rintaro and mei to a sweets shop and watch them run around excitedly, as touma and kento sit at the table and wonder how the actual hell they are going to eat a parfait this size.

“i don’t think this is for human consumption,” rintaro says as he finally takes a look at it.

“of course not!” mei replies. “it’s for the _four_ of us to eat, right?!”

it’s a good ten minutes before there even seems to be a dent in it. touma is starting to wonder if they’re going to finish any of it before the ice cream completely melts.

rintaro looks like he’s having the time of his life, though - so much so that he’s appeared to forget the apparent injustice of the store being out of eclairs.

kento seems to be enjoying himself, too, at least from the little smile on his face as he eats the massive mix of fruit and yogurt and ice cream. he’s been smiling a lot more, touma’s noticed. it’s like a different kento is there.

is it just that touma’s been looking at him more? or is this the real kento, the kento touma knew as a child, free from all the burdens he piled on himself to keep anyone else from being weighed down?

mei yells at touma to carry his weight, so he turns back to the parfait.

but kento’s definitely different. he seems lighter, easier to read. he smiles more. his laugh is the same, but it comes much more freely.

touma likes it a lot. it’s easier, the way that they laugh when touma manages to smear half-melted whipped cream across his nose and mei snickers and rintaro’s single-minded focus on the sweet is broken to stare at him, and the way kento gives that toothy grin and laugh that touma’s fond of.

one by one, though, they tap out of eating the parfait. kento first, sticking his spoon in the rest like he’s burying the point of a sword. mei second, even as touma asks her where all that determination went.

“you have to carry on for us,” mei groans, and it’s so overly-dramatic that it suits her. “you’re our only hope, touma…”

rintaro has not said a word since he made it to the last layer. it’s almost like they’re not trying to finish the parfait, rather trying to stop rintaro from completely overeating.

even with mei’s cheering - “come on, touma! you can do it!” - touma does not last much longer, and they all have to wait until rintaro finally puts down his spoon.

“that was the toughest thing we’ve ever done,” touma mumbles, and kento nods in agreement.

“where’s your sense of adventure?” mei protests.

“didn’t you -” kento starts, but mei crosses her arms and looks smug, even though she wasn’t even slightly in the running for eating the most of the parfait. because that’s the game they were apparently doing.

“that was more fun than expected,” rintaro says. “we’ll have to try the bigger size next time.”

there’s a collective pause.

“there’s a WHAT?”

* * *

it’s another few days before kento gets the reluctant okay from ogami to train again.

“there’s nothing _wrong_ with him,” touma had heard ogami mumbling to daishinji, “but it’s...it’s not like it’s something we can just ignore. i want to keep an eye on him.”

touma guessed he was the best one to train with kento, especially to keep watch over him, but…

“why are we training in the north pole,” he grumbled. “you can’t tell me you guys always do this!”

kento gave him a grin as their boots crunched through the heavy snow.

“well, we used to train in the wonder world,” kento explained. “but that’s not really an option with the megid around.”

he pulled ikazuchi out, the electricity flashing and arcing across the snow.

“and is the _swordsman of flames_ really complaining about snow?” 

oh, so it was a _challenge_ now? if that was how it was going to be…

rekka’s pulled out without a second thought, the driver on touma’s waist only _slightly_ hindering his movement. well, he’s at least more used to it than he was. 

touma knows his swordsmanship is still unrefined, still a little more like desperate swings than anything properly trained, even with the more experience he’s obtained. everyone else seems so much more in control as they fight, whether it’s ren’s quick movement that’s more like flashes than anything you can keep your eye on for too long, or rintaro’s steady hand in each of his slashes, grounded and proper, or ogami’s heavy and rough movements that lead to devastating effect. 

touma, on the other hand, has always really been making it up as he goes along. so that’s exactly what he does.

kento’s strikes are clear, so touma focuses on blocking them. they’re not easily telegraphed, kento moving quickly from restrained and blocking to suddenly cutting forward, so touma bides his time, letting himself be pushed further and further back in the snow.

and then, as he’s struggling to block another forceful strike -

touma drops, grabs a handful of snow, and throws it at kento.

it hits him square in the face.

kento sputters, and for a moment, almost looks angry, but instead just spits out the little bit of snow in his mouth and grabs a handful of his own.

the training very quickly devolves after that. the snow’s good for making snowballs, after all, and if kento was the first one to hit touma in the chest with a very well-made snowball then it’s technically _his_ fault. it was only natural that it would lead to touma attempting to hit a snowball out of the air with rekka.

daishinji would kill them if he saw what they were using the swords for, actually. 

either way, it doesn’t work. not that touma doesn’t manage to hit the snowball with the blade, but rather that rekka is the sword of flames, and the snow melts as soon as it connects with it.

on the other hand, kento is hit with a faceful of lukewarm water instead of snow, and that’s _much_ funnier. 

there’s a small debate on whether or not they can electrocute snow. it’s probably too dangerous to try, which means they’re absolutely going to try it later.

with a call, rintaro announces his arrival to check up on them. kento and touma share a look.

rintaro is greeted with two finely-packed snowballs to the face.

unfortunately, it turns out that fighting the swordsman of water at a snowball fight is a terrible decision, and though rintaro protests at using the swords at first, a well-placed hit to the chest seems to change his mind.

the snowball fight quickly turns into a snow-and-also-water fight, and it’s two against one. and the two are _losing_ , even with using rekka to shield them from the snow and the freezing chill of the water. at this point, it feels more like a water gun fight touma vaguely remembers having with kento and luna.

as punishment for starting the snowball fight and also losing, touma ends the training session with a good percent of his body buried under snow like it’s sand at the beach.

“it’s freezing,” he complains, and rintaro looks at him oddly.  
“you’re the swordsman of fire,” he repeats. kento nods. of course they’d gang up on him.

rintaro ends up building a snowman, and kento steals touma’s hat to put on it.

no matter what they say, touma insists it doesn’t resemble him.

* * *

touma’s half-asleep at the meeting. 

he’d been working on his manuscript well into the night - mei having called him to say the deadline was in a few days and she really can’t keep extending it her boss will kill her - when ren slammed the book gate open and told him that hey, emergency meeting, you gotta show up _right now_.

at least ogami had made coffee. 

rintaro looked like he was at least pretending to be alert, and kento was doing a similar, but more sloppy, job - even standing up with his back to the staircase, he looked like he was going to fall back asleep at any moment.

“we’ve found kurayami,” daishinji starts, and kento jolts upright.

the meeting takes on a more serious tone from there. there’s something _very_ dangerous about the sacred sword (no kidding, touma thought to himself), enough that it might not be a coincidence about how daichi didn’t leave a body behind when they defeated him. the only reason they could find it now is due to the darkness around it weakening.

“so,” ogami states, “ _no one_ is going after it themselves.”

of course, when the meeting adjourns, kento immediately pulls touma aside and says he wants to go after it himself.

it is what killed him, so it makes sense in some way, but kento won’t meet touma’s eyes when he’s explaining himself. still, touma can’t say no. it’s kento, after all, and if kento trusts him enough to actually tell him about it instead of bottling it up and running after it himself, then that means something.

they decide to go after kurayami once everyone else goes back to sleep. touma insists they bring rintaro. it’s better in numbers, after all, and he’s reminded too easily of a night where kento was alone in his arms.

rintaro’s practically horrified at the idea of going against orders when they wake him up, but kento shushes him. it’s important, he stresses, and touma finds himself agreeing. they need the sword, to stop anyone fading away like kento.

to make sure that kento’s death stays temporary.

touma says that last part out loud, mumbling to himself, and kento turns to him. it’s almost as if he’s surprised touma’s still so focused on that, which almost _hurts_ in a way - even with each new memory setting in, they don’t replace the scenes that have repeated on loop. they never will.

he reaches for kento’s hand, a weak hold that’s more of him just checking that kento’s hand is still warm.

it’s been warm every time touma’s checked, but the anxiety never leaves.

rintaro’s quiet at first, but he nods in agreement eventually. touma slowly takes back his hand, though he lingers just in case it’s all too fragile, in case kento’s hand will be cold within moments.

kento looks at him, face to face, but there’s something different to it that touma can’t place. it’s still distinctly kento, it always has been, but it’s almost like kento is looking right through him. it’s not perfectly lined up to how kento was, days ago.

all of a sudden, touma regrets pulling his hand back.

* * *

kurayami’s illuminated by the moonlight, and it’s fitting, but touma doesn’t like looking at it.

it can’t be the sword itself that’s lined up those betrayals, made the man who once saved touma throw everything aside - can it? yet, it’s the only survivor of those times. everyone else who’s held it fading away, until they’re nothing more than shadow that the sword controls.

touma unsheathes his sword before he even realizes, the weight comforting and yet heavier than normal. 

“what do we do?” he asks. “destroy it?”

it’s what feels right to do, honestly. but rintaro shakes his head back and forth, looking hesitant on his own.

“it’s not something that can be destroyed so easily. we should bring it back to the sword of logos, really. but i don’t know how we’re supposed to take it…”

“just grab it,” kento says, and the words are suddenly so _detached_. it’s the kento touma heard before, back when he was frantically chasing daichi’s shadow, running further and farther until touma couldn’t see him anymore. “we just need to grab it.”

“that’s not -” and rintaro’s listing off the many reasons why that, especially for a sword like kurayami, is a terrible idea, but kento doesn’t seem to want to listen. the thawing kento, the kento full of smiles touma had held onto so tightly, was rapidly retreating.

his eyes are harder than touma remembers, even from his memories before kento’s disappearance. there’s a sharpness to them, where he remembers there being more warmth before.

touma can’t let himself dwell on it, because kento moves forward to kurayami, ikazuchi still stowed in his driver, and for a moment, it’s just like before, kento disappearing towards the darkness.

rintaro moves as well, and touma has to catch up, because kento’s hand is outstretched and the only thing in touma’s mind is how _cold_ the darkness can be.

there’s shadow, the tendrils of black-purple darkness swirling, far too tangible than darkness should ever be. kento doesn’t move, but touma does, rekka glowing in a flash as he swings. firelight chases away the weaker shadows, and touma’s back to back with kento.

he doesn’t know what kento’s plan is - why he’s so insistent on getting the sword, why he’s so eager to throw himself into danger once more - but they’re going to do it together.

kurayami’s pulled from the ground, rekka resonating with it once more, and the shadows moving to consume both them and the sword recoil into nothingness. rintaro watches, nagare dragging patterns on the forest floor below. 

kento holds kurayami up to the sky, the moon once more leaving its glow on the sword, shadow dyed in white. 

the blade’s balanced in kento’s hands, and rintaro seems amazed that it was that easy, and touma places a hand on kento’s shoulder.

kento smiles, though his eyes still have that sharpness.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


kurayami’s blade slashes down. right across rintaro’s chest.

it’s a clean slice, from his shoulder to his stomach, 

right where he had once been injured protecting kento.

kento’s hands don’t shake holding kurayami. they’re controlled, clean, the well-practiced strikes touma had seen before.

maybe that’s why it didn’t feel real. it didn’t feel real when kento turned, and it didn’t feel real when rintaro cried out in pain, and it didn’t feel real so touma didn’t move. 

“touma,” kento’s voice says, his back still to touma. there’s an ugly red gash in rintaro’s outfit, once more dealt by caliburs sword, and rintaro yells kento’s name.

the sword slashes once more. it raises.

and touma finally finds the ability to move, between rintaro and kento before he even realizes it, and the jagged edges of kurayami dig into his shoulder. his jacket rips, the teeth of the blade cutting, but all touma can feel is his hands pushing kento away from rintaro.

he doesn’t hear anything but his own heartbeat, and it’s a twisted mirror of the last night he watched shadow hold kento.

“touma,” he hears again, and kento looks at him with those sharp eyes. “touma.” the echo could be from touma’s own delayed reaction, or from kento, and for a moment, it feels like another dream too vivid to be real.

but his last dream like that was true, and this can’t be any different. rintaro’s behind him, and kento’s in front, and touma has to do _something_ but it’s so slow, not knowing whether to fight or flee or freeze, that all he can do is stare with rekka in hand.

“kento,” touma finally replies, and kento smiles. it’s cold, everything about the scenario is cold, and rekka’s heat doesn’t stop touma from feeling like he’s freezing.

“you’re always,” and kento holds up a wonder ridebook there, stained purple like the rest of the night is, and his smile is just like how it’s always been since he returned, “so trusting.”

ikazuchi and the driver are thrown to the side carelessly, kurayami taking their place in kento’s hands. there’s calibur’s driver, too, and moonlight illuminates jaaku dragon for just a moment before it’s placed where lamp de alagina should be.

touma doesn’t let kento - not _this_ kento - move any more. rekka slashes, meeting kurayami’s blade, calm and practiced.

“kento!” and all he can repeat is kento’s name, a desperate attempt to pull him back once more. “come back - !”

it’s the way that he wants to hold onto kento before this calibur wearing his face is gone for good, link their hands in a promise before someone else slips away from him.

but kento’s eyes glint, the smile gone as the blades push against each other, only sparks flashing between their faces. there’s something more touma didn’t notice, didn’t think to look for, couldn’t look for - the red in kento’s eyes, more than just a reflection of rekka. the red he had seen all those nights before, stained, vibrant. illuminating.

“i did come back, remember? you _saved_ me,” and kento says it just like he did before, just as kurayami slips past touma’s guard and digs into his side. he can’t stop himself from letting out a cry, doesn’t have the strength to pretend it doesn’t hurt. 

“i’ll,” and he’s breathing too heavily for it to be honest, but he’s nothing if not resolute in his promises, “i’ll bring you back again. i’ll save you again -”

“i don’t need to be saved again.”

kurayami glows, a disorienting purple, and a strike of light bores down on touma. he can’t move, rintaro’s still there, he can’t - all he can do is guard until the guard breaks down from under him, sending touma roughly to the ground.

touma has to transform. he has to pull himself together and transform. he reaches out to rekka once more - 

and kento’s there, sitting, watching him. he picks up rekka, tossing it to the side.

“all i want is the truth,” he says, an echo touma never wants to hear again. “okay?”

“the truth,” touma says, numbly. the cuts in his shoulder and chest burn, but not as much as the disbelief flaring up, the _anger_ at this traitor wearing kento’s face. “and that’s why you hurt rintaro? why you betrayed us?”

“i can’t have you getting in the way. and we both know rintaro can’t keep a secret to the sword of logos.” the smile’s back, but now it seems so fake. so unsettling. touma’s sick with himself for ever finding it real. “though, touma...you’re better at keeping secrets, right?”

kento’s right in front of touma, and his hand’s up in a pinky promise.

“it’ll be our little promise, okay?”

for a second, he actually considers it. considers pretending like it’s all just a bad dream.

“i can’t keep a promise like that.”

the smile drops in moments.

kurayami drops along with it, across touma’s cheek, an ugly slash down to his chest. jagged, uneven, so unlike kento. 

“fine,” comes the response, and even as he hears footprints, touma can’t look at him. not at this calibur.

the sword hits jaaku dragon, and the driver sings out as kento’s once more further and further away.

touma doesn’t know why he still reaches out.

**Author's Note:**

> i started writing this vaguely after 13 aired and didnt finish until now so just ignore the fact that 14 and 15 are real and exist and 15 was specifically to spite my calibur kento thing. i had to write this.  
> title taken from the madoka magica rebellion ost bc thats what this shit felt like
> 
> hey wouldnt it be wild if we actually got calibur kento though haha. toei please take notes


End file.
